


Crazy Trust Exercise

by Hinalilly



Category: Free!
Genre: A little bit of everything, Blindfolds, Comedy, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Haru's internal monologue hijacked my drabble, I GUESS!?, I just rolled with it, Light Angst, M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Rin tops, Sorry Not Sorry, dorks being dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 10:20:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1185118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinalilly/pseuds/Hinalilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin has a surprise for Haru. He makes sure he won't be able to peek.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crazy Trust Exercise

**Author's Note:**

> Originally supposed to be a short, Christmas pwp drabble present for my lovely spiritual pony sister and favorite Rin-mun, [Lucy](http://headstrongpredator.tumblr.com), this thing … CLEARLY ISN’T. I have no excuses. I don’t even know how this happened, to be honest. At least you can now see why I took so long to finish it, dearie. DON’T ASK ME, I HAVE NO IDEA.
> 
> Many thanks to [Maze](http://shonenmaidlevi.tumblr.com), who is currently charged with the taxing role of being my beta/editor/support team, for bearing with me as I whined on and on about how long this thing had gotten and how I could never finish it. I do listen to you, I swear.
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day, Sharkbait fans! 
> 
> ~~(before anyone asks yes, the title is a Frozen reference. I don't know)~~

“ _Rin_ ,” Haru protested fruitlessly for what seemed the hundredth time in the evening. He wasn't usually this vocal; generally just a sharp turn of the head to avert his eyes from the other's would suffice, but this particular motion was impossible for him at the moment as he had no idea where Rin's head currently _was_. He tried groping in the dark for him, but a pair of hands pressed against his shoulder blades and pushing him forward showed him that Rin was just a little bit out of reach for now. “Rin, take it _off_ ,” he tried again, but all he got in response was a mischievous chuckle.

“Just a little bit more, Haru, trust me.” Rin kept pushing him through the foyer, and even though he stumbled quite a few times and stubbed his toes on the edges of steps and furniture and their discarded bags more often than he would have liked (Rin's apologies sounded much too loud and clear in his ears), Haru had already lost. He could not have fathomed calling it quits after those words had been said.

Rin knew how to play the game, and he played it well.

He had no idea why he had agreed to this in the first place. _Technically_ he hadn't; Rin had just forced the thing on his head before he had had the chance to open the door to his own house, and now Haru was stuck with complete darkness before his eyes. His initial lack of protest (he would have, had he known what was coming) had him walking aimlessly through his house with only Rin's poor navigation skills to guide him. Frankly, they had obviously not reached their destination yet and it was already more annoying and painful that he had expected it to be. When Haru huffed through his nose in slight anger, Rin chuckled again, then proceeded to move over to his front to guide him by the hand instead, and attempted to (apparently) pacify him by rubbing his thumb over it gently. (Or maybe it was just one of those weird things Rin did without thinking. He wasn’t sure.)

“Come on. It won't be a surprise if you're looking!” At this rate, Haru severely doubted any surprise would be worth the pain he was being subjected to, but he said nothing. He didn't even bother trying to take the blindfold off. From the sounds of Rin's grunts and muttered curses, he was probably keeping an eye on him instead of where he was going, trying to make sure Haru didn't try to peek. He wasn’t going to, but even if he tried convincing Rin of this fact, the redhead would still keep a cautious eye on him anyway.

Needless to say, the stairs were being a bit of a challenge. With Rin more focused on Haru than where his feet were landing, they almost tumbled down a few times, but thankfully Haru was more than familiar with his own house and managed to get them both to the second floor safely even while visually impaired. He tried mapping the layout in his head, in an attempt to figure out where they were headed, and came to the conclusion that he was being led to his own room. He had no idea why Rin’s surprise was there, nor how he had slipped it into his house unnoticed (though he could guess Makoto had something to do with that), but for some reason Rin’s hand felt warmer than usual, maybe even a little sweaty, and Haru wondered if that thing about having your senses enhanced when one of them is blocked was actually true. He heard the sound of the door of his own room opening, and Rin led him inside, a smug chuckle reverberating through his frame and all the way to Haru’s hand as they walked inside.

Rin wasted no time in leading him further into the room, and Haru could almost feel the waves of excitement rushing through the redhead as they finally came to a stop, when both of his hands were grabbed and held tightly by the other. In his mind’s eye, Haru could see a huge, crooked grin on Rin’s face. There was a pretty high chance that the picture his imagination had conjured up was spot-on.

“Ready?” The smirk was audible in his voice, and right when Haru was in the middle of saying he could _still_ not see a thing, Rin pulled Haru’s hands down, pressing them onto what felt like his mattress. The position held for a moment, and Haru guessed Rin was expecting a comment from him, but the sheets felt like they usually did beneath his fingers, maybe just a tad bit warmer than usual (he guessed it was the late-afternoon sunlight’s fault, or something like that), and Haru couldn’t for his life figure out what it was he was supposed to be saying. It was just his luck; one of the rare times when Rin actually behaved much like how he did when they were young and Haru was _this_ close to ruining it because he had no idea what the whole surprise deal was. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary (except the blindfold on his head, which was uncomfortable and made everything feel weird around him), and now he couldn’t even stare at Rin to let him know he had no idea what was going on.

“Seriously, Haru?” The amusement in Rin’s voice caught him off guard, and the way he snorted before helping him stand up straight again was just plain confusing. “If you don’t get it right this time, I’ll owe Makoto 2000 yen.”

_Ah, so Makoto is in on this after all_ , Haru thought to himself, considering asking for a proper explanation in case he failed horribly to meet Rin’s expectations (really, there was only so much he could do with his eyes covered like that), but his thoughts were cut short in a small gasp when he felt Rin’s arm around his waist, lifting him up and practically throwing him on the bed. Talk about gentle. Haru was more than aware that Rin could be extremely brash when he really wanted to, and it shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did, but this was his house and his room and his bed and Rin didn’t have any right to—

Haru’s musings came to an abrupt halt when he tried to straighten himself up, because he was pretty sure that when his hand had pressed against the mattress for support he had felt something _ripple_ beneath it.

But that was impossible. He was on his bed, so there was no way there could be—

“Heh,” Rin’s chortle came from afar (but not too far), and Haru guessed the way in which his jaw had dropped upon realization had made it clear he had finally gotten it right. “Guess I don’t have to pay up after all.”

“Rin, what— Why—” Haru wasn’t sure what to ask first or how to do so in the first place, because his brain was currently stuck in the thought that _there was a waterbed in his room_ and he had no idea how or why it had happened.

“Well,” Rin started, knowing exactly what Haru’s questions were even if he hadn’t voiced them fully yet, and Haru felt the bed tipping slightly beneath him when Rin sat on it (he could almost _hear_ the movements of the water with the tips of his fingers, and his body shook with an involuntary shiver). “I had a few presents to make up for. This seemed like a good idea.”

‘A few presents’ was probably an understatement (unless Rin was counting some other holiday that didn’t include Christmas or his birthday in that list). Haru was so shaken and touched by the prospect of owning a waterbed that for a moment he didn’t think to complain or even ask how Rin had managed to afford it (the bits about how they had set it up without him noticing, he could get from Makoto later). He was reveling so much in just feeling the water underneath him that he almost forgot how much it bothered him that his eyes were still covered. It really felt like every sensation was heightened, and while it was slightly disturbing and a little scary to not see what was going on around him, at the same time it was so much easier to connect to his surroundings on a deeper level, and Haru let his hands roam along the mattress, trying to pinpoint every crevice through which the water moved in tune with his body.

He must have looked like he was in perfectly deep concentration, because Rin’s voice floated through the air tentatively after what seemed like ages of silence.

“So? What do you think?” His voice was cheerful but there was a slight tinge of uncertainty in his words. Perhaps he was concerned that Haru wouldn’t like it because he could not be in direct contact with the water? Haru considered this thought for a moment. No, he did like it. It was amazing. It felt great. He wanted to lie down and not get up for a few days if he could help it.

And that’s exactly what he did. Haru lay back slowly on the bed (taking care not to throw himself down on the headrest on accident, considering he was still unsure of where exactly on the bed Rin had dropped him, or how big it was in the first place), stretching his arms and legs comfortably and trying to cover as much space as possible. None of his limbs made contact with Rin, so he figured he must have been sitting somewhere between his right arm and his right leg. The bed was warm all around. It was a funny feeling.

“It’s good,” he finally said, sensing the unrest in the air around the general area where Rin was most likely located at the moment, and though it wasn’t meant to be heard Haru _could_ hear the relieved sigh that left Rin’s lips at his words. The redhead huffed proudly, but otherwise said nothing more, and there was another prolonged moment of silence before Rin’s impatience once again cut through the air, most likely due to Haru’s lack of movement.

“Aren’t you going to take that off?” He asked curiously, but there was an underlying guarded tone to Rin’s voice that made Haru shift slightly from his perfectly comfortable position. He turned his head towards where he guessed Rin was, wordlessly, and Rin’s low growl told him he had indeed pinpointed his position correctly. “Tch, stop that. It’s creepy as hell,” Rin’s weight lifted from the bed and Haru felt the warm water move underneath his body, closing his eyes behind the blindfold to attempt to follow Rin’s movements along the room. If anything, the constant pacing and tongue-clicking told him he was doing a pretty good job of it. Of course, it wasn’t long until Rin took this as a personal challenge, and soon he was starting to make all sorts of distracting noises around the room, trying to confuse Haru and hopefully get him to lose his location. This, in turn, was ticking Haru off, because while he was confident he could find Rin anyway, he certainly did not like the thought of him rummaging and making a mess of his things. Was that the sound of his pencils hitting the floor? He did not just do that.

“Rin, stop,” he ordered firmly, earning a chuckle from somewhere behind him. Rin’s voice sounded closer and closer each second, and Haru didn’t really have to guess why.

“What’s wrong, Na-na-se,” he teased, and Haru felt a slight pressure to the side of his head, jolting a little when cold fingertips played with the edges of the blindfold beneath his eyes, and over his nose. He could practically feel Rin’s breath on his face; he was probably leaning over him. “Do you give up?”

“No.”

Haru wasn’t sure what possessed him to continue their little improvised game, but this was _Rin_ , and Rin always ignited that competitive spark in him. He heard the sound of a tongue clicking, steps, then a chuckle, and all of a sudden the water sloshed beneath Haru’s body as the mattress tipped at his right, and again when Rin’s chuckle came from right above him, making Haru try to sit up straight, only to be stopped by a hand pressing down on his chest. It took a fraction of a second for Haru to guess that Rin had climbed on the bed; he could feel the disturbance caused by the weight of the arm that was placed on the side on his head again and by what were most likely Rin’s knees, placed on both sides of his left leg, close enough that he could feel their warmth, but not their touch. Rin’s voice chirped with mischief when he spoke, and it was both endearing and a little unnerving.

“Fine with me.”

He _really_ wanted to take the blindfold off now.

Haru felt the hand on his chest travel downwards experimentally for a fraction of a second, and then change course abruptly, moving right back up to play with the collar of his shirt instead, fingertips pressing softly against the skin underneath. Haru shivered again, because although Rin’s fingers were a bit cold the touch was warm and strange and everything felt amplified a thousand times when he couldn’t see it. It didn’t feel bad, though, so he didn’t resist nor asked Rin to stop. Still, there was one thing that bothered him, and it was precisely that Rin was evidently doing a lousy job of hiding from him.

“You’re being pretty obvious,” he chose to say, poking Rin’s playful side a little in hopes to figure out where he was trying to go with this game. Instead, what he got was a low and cautious whisper that sucked the very breath out of him.

“You have no idea.”

Haru swallowed thickly just as the touch of Rin’s fingers vanished, and the bed shifted again when the redhead balanced his weight on the arm that was still set firmly against the mattress at Haru’s left, the latter holding his breath unconsciously, lying very still, waiting. Rin’s free hand felt warm and heavy when it suddenly reappeared within his sensory reach, pressed flush against his side, and Haru was painfully aware of the way his own chest heaved as it began travelling down, feeling his ribs and the faint curve of his waist through his clothes and the small patch of skin between his shirt and his pants. He felt four fingertips moving curiously along his stomach, dipping almost warily beneath his clothing and tracing the lines of his abs. He wasn’t entirely sure why his breath came to a stop again, but as the cautious fingers slowly gave way to the touch of Rin’s entire hand he came to the conclusion that he didn’t want to scare him off by moving too much. He still couldn’t help the way in which his entire torso spasmed when that hand grew a bit more confident and travelled further up his shirt, earning himself a nervous chuckle that sounded a bit too close to his ear.

Perhaps he’d been too focused on the direct contact, because now Haru was very, very aware of how hot and slow and _close_ Rin’s breaths felt against his neck.

“Rin…?” He tried, lifting his left arm from the bed in an attempt to find him, but his motions were cut short when _something_ he couldn’t quite recognize prickled the crook of his neck, which immediately became all too obvious as the sensation dragged a little bit uncomfortably along the exposed skin of his shoulder. If Rin had been trying to weird him out, he had definitely succeeded, and while it wasn’t painful (Rin was being extra careful about it) it was still awfully unnerving to feel his unnaturally sharp teeth gliding over his bare skin for no apparent reason. Haru opened his mouth to call for him again, and came to regret it almost immediately when all that left him was a little gasp, because Rin picked that exact moment to close his lips against him in what felt like a makeshift kiss, and it was wet first before everything else computed in his head, the different sensations piling up as those lips ghosted over his skin, retracing their steps back to his neck. It was warm and tingly and it felt funny, and Haru’s senses were going into overload because Rin was suddenly closer than ever (or well, closer in such a… strangely intimate way than ever, because he’d been hugged by a half-naked Rin at the poolside before, and yet not even that came close to how self-conscious and aware he felt of his presence right now), his skin positively burned wherever his ( _faint, lame excuses for_ ) kisses had touched, and Haru’s fingers practically dug into the sheets when that pair of lips wrapped around a spot at the base of his neck and _sucked_ , making his breath hitch and his entire body twitch at the foreign sensation. It was weird, too weird but a good kind of weird nonetheless; it was impossible for him to think otherwise when Rin’s hand was back against his waist and his fingers were playing with the hem of his pants and—

He could feel Rin’s entire frame shake with contained laughter, strands of hair tickling his skin and lips vibrating against his pulse point when he touched the fabric of his swimsuit. Meanwhile Haru’s stomach felt like it was turning inside out and he had no idea why (he had a very faint idea, actually, but it was so faint it was easily dismissed). He could almost feel it, that snarky comment that was on the tip of Rin’s tongue, and he went completely still with expectation, the only movement of his body being the constant (and slightly rapid) rise and fall of his chest. Any moment now and Rin would open his mouth and maybe Haru would be able to hear his laughter and then—

_Snap_.

Haru yelped audibly and practically jumped up straight when the fabric retracted painfully against his hips. Rin’s laughter shook the entire bed, and now that Haru was sitting up slightly he could feel it ricochet through his own body as well, with Rin’s head cradled softly against his shoulder.

“Haru, it’s _winter_ —“

“…Shut up.”

He had meant for his voice to have a bit more edge to it, but instead it came out as a little drowned whisper, because Rin’s weight was pushing him down against the bed again, and Haru still couldn’t see a thing but he could _feel_ their bodies pressed against each other, his skin moist from Rin’s airy chuckles. A soft, playful set of kisses were spread over his neck, and Haru felt his head fall back involuntarily as Rin’s lips travelled along his jaw, drawing another shiver from him when he kissed right beneath his chin, and then a little further down, above his Adam’s apple. Rin’s fingers were still playing with the hem of his swimsuit, but every now and then they would wonder just a little bit underneath it, almost shyly, and Haru wondered if Rin wasn’t perhaps trying to _say_ something (trying to _ask_ something of him), but he was unable to connect the redhead’s actions to any of the possible questions his brain drew up for him.

“Haru.”

The voice was quiet and guarded and almost wary, and Haru both hated how it sounded (he didn’t like the idea of Rin acting distant with him _at all_ ) and loved it at the same time. There was a hint of both childlike curiosity and concern in it, and he felt himself being thrown years into the past, and they were both young again, and there were so many things he wanted to say but he couldn’t, because he was small and foolish and didn’t understand. He still didn’t understand a lot of things (like why Rin was suddenly lying on top of him, for one), but he had found his voice after so long and he could communicate now, if he wanted to.

“Is this… okay?”

If it mattered.

“…yeah.”

He could feel Rin’s lips curving up into a smile at that distance, but it faded just as quickly as it had appeared. For a second, Haru felt panic rise in his chest. Rin was moving, moving away from him, and where his warmth had been seconds prior Haru just felt cold, stabbing cold, and not even the comfort of the waterbed was working towards soothing him. It was just a second, thankfully, because in that second Haru wondered if he might have ruined it, if he might have crushed Rin’s vulnerability again with the wrong answer (but how could it be wrong when it felt so _right_ ), and in that one second his arm snapped up once again to reach out for Rin before he went away again ( _not again, not again_ ).

But Rin was there. Warm and solid and breathing and _there_ , right where Haru’s hand had caught the fabric of his jacket, the only difference was that he was just a little higher up than before (Haru could still feel his knees near, so he hadn’t backed away at all, thank goodness), and when he leaned back down Haru could tell how much closer he was because his breath was warming his face now, and his cheeks tickled with the lose bangs that were probably raining down around Rin’s face, hiding his expression from everyone but Haru, who might have been able to see it if his eyes weren’t covered still.

Haru breathed.

A few seconds passed, and everything stood still in the darkness.

Haru inhaled again, fully aware that at that moment Rin and him were breathing the same air.

He could feel more and more strands of hair brushing past his cheeks, and he held his breath in anticipation. He waited, lips parted instinctively, and he waited a little more. Haru was good at waiting, so he didn’t mind that Rin was taking his time to do whatever it was he wanted to do (there was a faint idea in the furthest recesses of Haru’s mind, but he didn’t bother with it because it was rather farfetched and he didn’t know where it had come from. He pretended he didn’t know. It was easier to avoid disappointment that way). Rin sighed into his face again, and Haru could almost taste the uncertainty in the moisture of his breath, could almost feel the excitement and the anxiety like sparks travelling between the space that separated the two of them. Rin swallowed, Haru heard. He listened for his heartbeat and he was pretty certain he could hear it, too. It took another second in which Haru took a deep breath and held it again, and then the warm, soft, moist sensation he had felt not long ago on his shoulder and his neck pressed slowly against his lips, tentatively. It was weird. Haru felt the tremors that shook Rin in his own mouth, and it was all fear and exhilaration and adoration and desire and all Haru could do to soothe it was wrap his fingers around Rin’s jacket a bit more tightly.

Unbelievably, it worked. Rin drew a sharp, shaky breath through his nose and his lips tilted against Haru’s slightly, turning the kiss more comfortable and natural and impossibly more _right_ , and Haru’s throat rumbled with a soft, yearning sound that he had no idea he was even capable of producing.

(The back of his mind was right after all and it seemed to have started a victory celebration right in the middle of his stomach.)

Haru really wished Rin hadn’t heard, but from the way those lips curved against his, he _had_ , and he was more than ready to push for more.

Suddenly, Haru felt the entirety of Rin’s weight on top of him, his breath coming out through his nose in a loud huff when their chests pressed together and Rin’s lips suddenly broke the kiss briefly to start another one again. And again. And again. The soft pecks made Haru shiver, his fingers crawling and jittering tentatively along Rin’s jacket to find his back and cling to it, while his other hand remained glued to the bed sheets, curling and uncurling as Haru couldn’t decide exactly what to do with it. As for Rin’s hands, his left remained stationary on Haru’s hips, warm and heavy and slightly sweaty, and Haru was painfully aware of the little patches where the touch was skin upon skin, never having had such an overwhelming desire to strip down to his swimsuit before when there was no water around (or well, no water around that he could _swim in_ , because he could still hear the flow underneath him, and it was driving him crazy). He winced in surprise when he felt the cold touch of Rin’s other hand against his neck, circling and diving underneath him to play with the hairs on the nape of his neck. His throat made one of those weird sounds again, and this time Rin growled softly in return, breaking the kiss with a sharp gasp.

“Open up.”

“Wha—”

Haru didn’t even finish asking what Rin’s breathy demand meant, because there was suddenly something hot and wet intruding into his mouth, and Haru actually closed his eyes behind the blindfold with a grunt when Rin turned his head sideways and wow, just— where had he learned that—

He was—

They were—

His tongue was being swirled around and sucked at, moist lips crashing against his and why, _why_ on Earth had he not pulled the blindfold off yet. He wanted to see Rin; see the heat on his face that must have been mirroring his own all that time, see how his eyebrows crooked unevenly over tightly shut eyelids, see those long eyelashes frame his red cheeks, see his soft, wine-colored hair pooling around his face as they kissed, kissed, kissed for what seemed like forever, with one of Rin’s hands gently cradling his head and the other curling almost painfully around the hem of his pants, almost but not quite tugging down yet.

(Yet.)

There was also that strange exhilarating feeling of not knowing when or where Rin’s touch would come up next, and a shiver run all the way up along his back as Rin pulled away from the kiss, his teeth tugging gently at Haru’s lower lip as he did. They weren’t all _that_ sharp, in the end, but still sharp enough to leave his skin tingling and itching comfortably in their wake.

Rin breathed rapidly and snorted, straightening up a little, away from the reach of Haru’s mouth (no, he did _not_ just try to catch his lips with his own as he left), the only connection between them being Haru’s stubborn hand clutching Rin’s jacket, and the strangely familiar sensation of feeling Rin’s weight pressed against Haru’s leg, which had been involuntarily pulled towards them as Haru somehow curled onto himself during the heavy make-out session. Their bodies felt hot where they touched even through their clothes, and Haru wanted to reach out towards him, pull him closer again… Haru would have really liked to know what the _hell_ Rin was laughing at.

(Instead of just coming back down and kissing him some more.)

“Give up yet?” Rin teased between heavy breaths, and while attempting to reply Haru realized he was pretty out of breath himself.

“No,” he gasped out, almost angrily, “ _hell_ no.”

“Oi, Haru—” Rin’s voice cut in suddenly, and Haru could swear it sounded a little shaky and very, very nervous. “Look, I’m just saying, I won’t hold it against you if you give up, so if you want to just—”

“ _No_ ,” Haru’s voice came out sharp and loud, and his fingers tugged at Rin’s jacket with force. “Shut up. Just. _Shut. Up_.”

_Shut up and get back here._

The room had suddenly gone so silent, and Rin swallowed so hard, that Haru could actually hear it clearly, could actually imagine the way Rin’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and he suddenly wanted to touch it. Kiss it. Bite it.

It was probably the blindfold’s fault.

“… are you serious?”

He had to physically fight the scowl that threatened to break onto his face at how doubtful and vulnerable Rin’s voice sounded when he asked that question. Had he not just kissed Haru like his life depended on it? Had it not been his idea in the first place? What was it with him and constantly leading Haru on, riling him up to get things done and then suddenly quitting halfway, when Haru was just starting to get used to it, when Haru was just starting to _understand_? Had Haru not told him it was okay? Had he not allowed Rin to kiss him? Had he not made it clear enough that he didn’t mind, that he was… enjoying it? He was enjoying it. It felt amazing and weird and _right_ , and for a moment it seemed like everything had suddenly fallen into place, like everything that had ever been awkward or tense between them had suddenly made _sense_ , and Haru could feel the pieces realigning themselves inside him whenever he remembered how Rin’s lips had felt against his.

There was no way Rin hadn’t felt it. There was no way he actually felt like he needed to ask if Haru was serious, because Haru was _always_ serious about him. About _them_.

Clearly the one having second thoughts about it all was _him_. And Haru couldn’t understand why.

“Are _you_?” He finally asked, his voice steady after having allowed himself some time to regain his composure.

“Haru—”

“No,” he interjected, suddenly feeling irritated and bothered (if he had been forced to guess, he would’ve said the frustration came from somewhere near the pit of his stomach), and he would have glared at the other if not for the blindfold over his eyes. “Shut up. Answer me.”

“I can’t answer if I—”

“ _Rin!_ ”

Haru’s growl cut Rin’s nervous laughter short, and silence covered the room once more, the only sensations Haru could feel being the weight of Rin’s body as he leaned against his leg, almost sitting on it, and the warmth of the water bed underneath him.

It took a moment before Rin spoke again, and it was so quiet and shaky that Haru almost missed it.

“I’m… I’ve always… I’ve always been—”

Of course. Rin was always the biggest idiot of the two. But Haru already knew that.

Rin scowled out loud when Haru tugged at his jacket again, and when a loud slap was heard before Rin sighed heavily, Haru guessed he was currently pulling at his bangs in frustration after dramatically slamming his palm against his own face; nothing unusual for him, really. It sounded almost as if he was unsure whether to laugh or cry.

“Haru, I _swear_ , if you don’t stop me, I don’t think I can—”

“I won’t stop you.”

He wasn’t bluffing.

There were a thousand and one things he was still uncertain about, and many more he didn’t even know (Was something like this actually supposed to work? Did Rin have any idea how to go about it? Was he truly ready to face the consequences of his actions?), but Haru had never felt the pull of his body, of his most… _human_ instincts, so strongly before, and it was _just_ like Rin to cause that in him without any regard for anything. He wondered if Rin was even aware of the effect he had on him (Haru, for one, didn’t remember ever telling him as much). Still, if he was certain of one thing at the moment, it was that he didn’t want Rin to stop. He would follow him, wherever _this_ (whatever it was) led them, and he knew in his heart that Rin felt the same way.

Haru spoke quietly, but with certainty, and when silence surrounded them again and he gave another powerful tug to Rin’s jacket, the other cursed loudly, slapping Haru’s hand away before a vicious rustling sound reached Haru’s ears, a sharp thud coming from afar when Rin’s jacket, which had most likely been hurled across the room in anger, landed somewhere on the floor.

“Dammit, Haru,” he groaned, and the older boy just laid still, taking in the sounds of more rustling clothes and picturing the image of Rin stripping his tank top just as angrily in his mind’s eye as he spoke (back first, over the head, and discarded dramatically, like everything Rin ever did), “this is all your fault.”

“You should have thought about that before putting a waterbed in my room,” Haru shot back blankly, still busy with his mental images, and Rin groaned again.

“Fuck, _fuck_ —”

“Yeah,” Haru teased again, growing a bit restless himself as he felt the weight shifting on the bed around him, “that’s the idea.”

Rin smacked his shoulder hard, and Haru winced slightly at it, a smile tugging at his lips.

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he chuckled, his voice sounding closer with each passing second, and Haru simply hummed in reply (he really didn’t, to be perfectly honest), lips pressed tightly together as he felt Rin’s fingers crawling underneath his shirt, pushing it up slowly and feeling his muscles underneath at the same time. His own hands itched with anticipation at returning the favor. He wondered what Rin’s torso felt like under his fingertips. Breath hitching, he gulped, lips parting at the thought.

“Show me,” he muttered quietly, and all movement around him froze.

A few terrifying seconds went by, during which no sound was heard, before Rin suddenly breathed out, like in a trance.

“… a sight you’ve never …”

Silence again, and suddenly Rin was cackling out loud, bending over so much that his head bumped against Haru’s chest. Haru himself shook lightly with contained laughter and sudden relief, covering his mouth for a moment before reaching out towards Rin’s hands, his fingers tracing upwards slowly along every curve, every muscle in those arms, to finally press his palms against his bare chest.

(Kou would be so proud.)

By that moment, Rin had stopped laughing, and Haru could hear his breathing close to his face, slow but heavy as he resumed his previous action of pushing his shirt up. Rin’s hands moved upwards, ghosting over his skin, while Haru’s travelled lower, his right stopping briefly over Rin’s heart (his pulse was rapid, strong) before moving further down, fingers playing over his navel curiously before settling at his sides, on the crook of his hips. Haru felt him retreating slowly under his touch, but before he could protest he was suddenly assaulted, like the prick of a needle, by the moisture of Rin’s lips, pressing warm and flush against his solar plexus, then trailing a set of kisses over his stomach, making him squirm and twitch at each unexpected touch. From the way in which he shook lightly each time he pressed his lips against him, Rin also seemed to be enjoying the fact that Haru couldn’t tell what he was going to do next, and when he unexpectedly nibbled one small patch of skin right under his ribs, Haru gasped and tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down again gently with a chuckle.

“Are you seriously not going to take that off?” He asked, and Haru noticed the tiniest bit of uncertainty in his voice.

“Yeah,” he replied immediately, fingers practically clawing at Rin’s sides in frustration. He didn’t want Rin backing out on him again. If the blindfold had given Rin the guts to kiss him, then Haru would make certain not to take it off just yet. Besides, while he did feel like watching every now and then, it was… interesting. By avoiding distractions, he found that isolating each and every sensation was much easier, that it made everything much simpler to understand, and—

Rin pulled his shirt up all the way up to his collarbone, breath hovering over his skin, and a short, sighed ‘ _Haru_ ’ was all that needed to be said for the latter to lift his arms up (he let go of his grip on Rin’s sides very reluctantly), allowing Rin to begin slipping the clothes off him. Not only was he painstakingly slow about it, but he also stopped halfway, leaving the shirt stuck around Haru’s elbows. Instead, he went back to leaving kisses all over him, his mouth travelling downwards along Haru’s arms in a return trip to his chest, stopping for a moment to nibble on the skin just shy of his armpit, which made Haru squirm and his toes curl as he tried his hardest to suppress a bout of laughter. Haru’s breath sped up inevitably as Rin continued his journey downwards, especially since he had been left right in the middle of being stripped, but he still did not immediately protest, distracted by the delicious sensations Rin’s mouth was spreading all over his body, like tiny seedlings taking root and branching out underneath his skin. But he couldn’t stay with his arms stuck above his head forever, so Haru eventually drew a shaky breath to speak up.

“Ri— _!!_ ” A loud gasp escaped him when the heat and wetness of Rin’s lips came into contact with one of his nipples, placing a soft kiss on it before tugging it gently with his teeth, which made Haru let out an embarrassingly high-pitched squeak at the foreign, yet oddly pleasant sensation. “R-Rin,” he tried again, and it came out more desperate than he would’ve liked it to, “my shirt—”

“Yeah, yeah, hold on,” Rin blurted out in a flash, dismissing his plea; his hands still roaming along Haru’s sides as his tongue darted out to give that nipple an experimental lick. Haru breathed in sharply at it, while Rin’s fingers only pressed harder against his skin. “I think I’m onto something here.”

Haru outright _hissed_ through gritted teeth when Rin wrapped his lips around it and sucked, his entire body jerking in reaction. He felt positively light-headed, and never in his life had his cheeks burned so much from something Rin had done (and Rin had done _a whole lot_ of embarrassing things throughout the time they’d known each other). Obviously, and because his reaction totally hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, Rin continued to toy with him, nibbling and sucking and kissing his nipple relentlessly, until Haru was almost thrashing underneath him, gasping and panting and making all sorts of short, quiet sounds that didn’t feel like they were coming from him at all.

He exhaled loudly when Rin finally released him, breath coming short and shivering slightly when the lack of Rin’s mouth around his now wet skin made the air feel a lot chillier than before. Haru could hear heavy, anxious breathing over him as his shirt was finally peeled from his arms, and he immediately brought one hand down to smack Rin on the head with, pinpointing its location after a few misses, and earning himself a whine from the latter.

“My arms hurt now, you idiot,” he complained (a little weakly, but he still hadn’t completely lost his bite), and yet Rin simply grabbed him, fingers curled around his biceps, and began placing short kisses over his shoulders in reply. Haru bit his lip, hands snaking around Rin’s back tentatively as he was held closer, because it was exceedingly sweet of him and it kind of tickled a little, and he had also had enough of making weird noises for the rest of the day.

But he found out soon enough that weird noises weren’t the worst of his problems.

While Rin busied himself by kissing his neck lovingly again (Haru really liked that, somehow, and he eventually concluded that it was due to him being able to feel most of Rin’s figure pressed against him, which meant he didn’t have to worry about Rin backing away and chickening out on him again), he suddenly became painfully aware of how hot and uncomfortable his body currently felt. It weren’t just the many places where Rin’s lips had been, littering his torso with random patches of annoyingly lukewarm skin, nor the way in which his cheeks almost hurt from blushing too hard, and it had nothing to do with how Rin’s fingers made his skin itch with a sudden need to touch him everywhere, either. It was mostly because a there was certain place in his pants that felt oddly hot and tight, and where he _hadn’t_ been touched yet.

(And Haru was surprised to realize how eager he was for it to happen.)

(He wondered if it was the same for Rin.)

It was when Rin placed a long, wet kiss on the skin right underneath his ear, making him wince slightly with a soft whimper when his earlobe was nibbled gently right afterwards, that Haru decided it was as good a time as ever to test his theory (and perhaps get a little revenge for Rin’s own experiment on his chest just a few moments ago). Since Rin was still straddling his left leg, it was easy for Haru to make his move, raising his hips a little in order to push his thigh flush against Rin’s crotch, and then drag it forward to give him a slow, powerful rub.

Haru felt his entire body turn feverish as the amazingly erotic sound Rin made resounded right against his ear.

Fingers dug against his skin as Rin shifted with a groan, and immediately he repeated the motion all on his own, rolling his hips firmly against Haru’s leg with a loud moan. Haru’s breathing accelerated almost into outright panting as Rin continued grinding against his leg, fingers and toes all curling as a delightful heat spread through his thigh with each move. He gulped loudly as his hands moved timidly along Rin’s back, tracing the hem of his trousers towards the front with shaking fingers until he made contact with his belt buckle. He fumbled with it in the dark for about half a second, before Rin took over and hurried to undo his pants, both boys’ fingers tangling with each other’s in desperation and anxiety. In any other occasion, he would have expected a cocky grin and a few comments about how irresistible he was from the other, but the tense silence between them, filled with nothing but the sound of heavy breathing and rustling clothes, assured Haru that Rin was still probably just as, or perhaps even more nervous than he was about the whole thing.

The good thing was that, at least this time, Rin didn’t ask for permission.

As soon as his own pants had been undone, Rin wasted exactly zero seconds to focus on Haru’s, slapping the black-haired boy’s hands away in an attempt to speed up the process. (At one point, Haru wondered if he was perhaps doing it with his eyes closed or something, because Rin cursed way too many times and took forever to get it done.) Snorting loudly at his success, the first thing Rin did before pulling Haru’s pants down was slip a hand into them, giving his erection a powerful grab through his jammers. Haru yelped, gasping breathlessly when Rin didn’t immediately let go.

“And here I thought you never felt anything,” Rin practically wheezed the words out, wound up as he was, and Haru swore he waited until he had opened his mouth to reply to give him a long, hard stroke. Naturally, Haru let out a loud whimper, immediately reaching out blindly to grab Rin by the wrist and stop him in his tracks. His only reply was a breathy chuckle. “Look at you, Haru!” The teasing tone was evident in his voice, and Haru felt the water sloshing beneath his body as Rin’s weight tipped the bed again; in mere seconds he could feel the warmth of their bare chests pressed against each other once more. “You’re so hard,” Rin breathed into his face, and Haru almost choked when his erection was stroked again, mentally cursing Rin for having such long and beautiful fingers.

Damn it all to hell.

“ _Rin_ ,” he whined instead, his grip on the other’s wrist growing tighter, and Rin chuckled again, retreating once more from Haru’s immediate personal space slowly, kissing and touching wherever his hands could reach until he made it to Haru’s pants, holding him by the waist while he placed one last kiss over his hipbone. The next moment, Haru felt the sudden shift on the bed as most of Rin’s weight disappeared, but the hands still connected to him gave him a sense of relief and excitement all at the same time. He held his breath as he felt Rin’s fingers hooking around his pants, pulling to drag them down slowly, almost sensually, along his legs. His knuckles brushed Haru’s skin, and the latter took another sharp breath, clutching onto the sheets as anxiousness and desire conducted through his entire body like electricity, making him twitch in anticipation. Along with his pants went Rin’s touch, and suddenly Haru felt very cold and lonely for a moment, straightening up to try and make out any noise that might tell him exactly what was happening. He heard the sound of his pants being dropped, and he clearly heard the sound of Rin’s belt jingling in the darkness, which meant…

Haru breathed in deep. At least he still had his swimsuit on.

(But what about Rin?)

There was more rustling and a few grunts from Rin, but finally the water underneath him shifted again, and Haru felt the pressure on the mattress as Rin crawled towards him. Reaching out with a hand to find him, he was startled when his fingertips came into contact with delicate strands of hair. He could vividly picture the wine-red color as more and more strands caught in his outstretched fingers, slightly clammy with sweat and tangled as Rin pressed his head against his hand softly, almost lovingly, nuzzling into it before placing a kiss on his wrist. Haru flinched away slightly in an automatic response, but Rin’s lips found him again, placing kisses all over the underside of his arm, his entire body moving closer to him in the process. He made his way between Haru’s legs, forcing the latter to make room for him the closer he moved, the water moving underneath them wildly as the mattress tipped under them again. A hand placed on his waist, pushing down gently as it moved upwards along his side, invited Haru to lie back down again, just as Rin’s mouth finally reached his shoulder with a playful bite. A few well-placed licks on his neck, and Haru felt the heat intensify tenfold, the touch of Rin’s bare thighs against his clothed ones making him sigh and groan in the same breath. Fingers fiddled with the hem of his swimsuit, and Haru swallowed hard, his hands immediately tempted to follow the contour of Rin’s body to find out whether he was already completely naked or not. He eventually came into contact with the cotton fabric of Rin’s underwear (boxer briefs, he found out, after letting his hands roam along his legs a few times), to which Rin hummed into his neck in what sounded like appreciation, and then snapped Haru’s swimsuit lightly again with a smirk on his lips. Haru instantly retaliated by pinching Rin’s butt softly, to which the redhead whined audibly, giving the skin of Haru’s neck a little nip with his teeth. With another groan, Haru tried to push him away, but in doing so their bodies touched, crotches rubbing together accidentally, and both gasped (Rin muttered a curse in English), instinctively putting some distance between each other, especially their aching hips.

For some reason, Haru didn’t find it strange at all that he was the first to react. (The lack of direct contact was killing him, after all.)

Since his hands had already settled on Rin’s butt, Haru grabbed him firmly and pushed him down to meet his crotch, hips raised to shorten the distance. The heat was _incredible_. Rin offered no resistance, letting out a shaky breath as Haru rolled their hips together with a sensual sigh, and took over his half of the work immediately, grinding against him barely short of desperately, arms pushing down on the bed at Haru’s sides.

“H-Haru…kaa…”

His breath hitched when Rin moaned hotly against his shoulder; he could hear him trying to level his breathing and keep his voice down low, but the name slipped past his lips with so much yearning, desire dripping from it like the moisture of Rin’s breath on his skin, that Haru’s stomach flipped, fingers digging into Rin’s underwear as he accompanied his movements with his hands. He himself was a mess of whimpers and short, quiet moans, letting out a particularly loud one when Rin literally bit into his shoulder to keep from being too loud, a hand desperately tangling and tugging at his dark hair.

“Rin— Rin, ah-I… haaah…!” Haru wasn’t surprised that words failed him; his mouth felt dry and his thoughts were a jumbled mess, eyes shut tight beneath the blindfold as their bodies kept rocking against each other. His swimsuit had never felt tighter, squeezing him almost painfully as the heat of Rin’s body against his made him boil, head swimming in visions of red. Their crotches kept meeting again and again, rubbing together powerfully in a constant, feverish rhythm, and for a few moments, all Haru could think of was how his body heat kept rising, pleasure shooting through him each time they touched. It felt as if something inside him was being inevitably set loose, revealed after years and years of concealment, and though the sheer volume of that passion was a bit overwhelming and, frankly, slightly scary, Haru would welcome it as many times as he needed if it meant having Rin with him like that.

Rin… It was impossible for him to even begin to explain all the sensations he was receiving from Rin at the moment.

All the fear, all the anxiety was gone in a flash, and Rin was moving against him with the kind of strength and conviction that Haru had always seen in him; the foolhardiness, the straight-forwardness, the magnetic pull of his reckless honesty, everything seemed to have been reborn in him, exuding from the bold movements of his hips, almost as if wanting to leave a mark, to meld together into one and never let go again. They were pressed together in such a tight embrace that, in the middle of all the wild movements and all the heavy breathing, Haru was already uncertain of where Rin’s feelings ended and his own began.

(In the end, they’d always been a mirror of each other.)

He latched his legs around Rin’s, entangling their bodies together to keep them locked in place when Rin’s pace hastened all of a sudden, fearing for a moment that he’d end up hitting the headboard with his skull in the midst of it all. But Rin seemed to have been thinking exactly the same thing, because the hand that had been previously tugging at his hair was now holding his head protectively, keeping him safe and close as he panted and groaned beside Haru’s ear. He could feel tears gathering in his eyes when the pain coiled tighter and tighter between his legs as they continued to move hungrily against one another, and not even the kisses that Rin was leaving all over his shoulder were enough to satiate his thirst for more. It was as if a current was swelling inside him, just waiting to burst through. His heart jumped in his chest and his whimpers hitched in his throat with each roll of their hips, and Haru heard a voiceless scream leaving him, his breath wavering and cutting off intermittently when he felt himself going blind behind his eyelids, the force of all the combined stimulation shaking him to the core as Rin continued to rock his body against his. A few more weak moans slipped out, Rin’s next  desperate thrusts spending him completely, and his hands moved along Rin’s muscled back to rest lazily against his shoulder blades, just in time to hold Rin together as he, too, came undone against him with a lengthy groan. Silence fell around them once more, the sound of Haru’s soft panting accompanying the last few lazy motions of Rin’s hips before he all but crashed on top of him, exhaling audibly and burying his face in the crook of his shoulder. Haru’s hands dropped to his sides with a loud thud, and a few moments later Rin’s free hand had found his, fingers intertwining lazily as they both fought to regain their breaths.

“I still… can’t believe…,” Rin was the first to speak (his regular runs had always been beneficial to his stamina, after all), his voice heavy and tired, but still sounding awfully relaxed and satisfied, unlike before, “…you’re wearing… that… in _bed_ …” A breathy laughter shook his body, and Haru simply tugged at his hand a little, bringing his other one up to comb through Rin’s hair blindly, taking his sweet time to even out his breathing before speaking.

“You didn’t take it off,” he whispered after what seemed like an eternity, and he felt how Rin automatically pulled his hand away to hoist himself up (most likely on his hands and knees, from the way the water flowed underneath him), and Haru could hear him take a few long, deep breaths right above him.

“Should I— I-I mean,” he swallowed roughly, and when he spoke again his voice was barely above a startled whisper, and Haru had to strain his ears to hear him, “…do you want me to…?”

Perhaps it was because he couldn’t see a thing, but Haru felt like simply nodding in reply wouldn’t be enough, so he groped blindly until he finally found Rin’s face, caressing his burning cheeks gently before whispering back a soft “Yeah” to him. Rin shivered under his touch, and Haru was pretty certain it had nothing to do with fatigue.

He noticed how Rin bit the inside of his cheeks in hesitation before leaning back down towards him, and Haru could physically feel the heat he was giving off, making the air heavy and hard to breathe. Something that felt like Rin’s bangs tickled the skin of his stomach, at which his lips curved into a weak smile, but his expression contorted into absolute panic when Rin’s nose rubbed against his lower stomach, lips brushing his skin gently as his mouth closed over his—

“Don’t you _dare_ ,” Haru yelled, sitting up on his elbows in a hurry, “it’ll rip!”

“Heelash,” Rin groaned what Haru guessed was an unintelligible version of the word ‘relax’ through his teeth, which were currently biting into the hem of Haru’s jammers, “eesh fine.” Haru tried to protest again, but before he could sit up straight Rin had already begun dragging his swimsuit off with his teeth, and Haru wailed inwardly for the well-being of his favorite fit.

“If you rip it I swear I’ll never let you touch me again.”

“Hahuuuu!”

In spite of perceiving how slowly and softly Rin was tugging at his swimsuit, Haru still felt slightly uneasy, and contrary to everything he had convinced himself of earlier (and he still believed his logic was pretty sound), he brought a hand up to his face in order to lift the blindfold off his eyes briefly, with the excuse to make sure that Rin was being true to his word and everything went smoothly.

What he saw practically made him choke on air.

Seeing Rin’s incredible physique bent over him on all fours between his legs, dragging his only remaining piece of clothing with his teeth, face dangerously close to his crotch, made all the circuits inside him go into overdrive, shutting off his coherency and leaving his libido to take over completely.

Forget his swimsuit. He had never been so incredibly turned on in his entire life.

“ _Shit_ —”

The curse that left his lips was so unexpected (and unexpectedly _honest_ , as well) that Rin's head snapped up to stare at him, stopping dead in his tracks; his eyes widening in horror and face flaring up in embarrassment when he noticed Haru staring at him.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing!?” He yelled, the swimsuit having slipped off his grasp when his jaw dropped slack in shock, absolute mortification clearly evident in his eyes. “You're not supposed to look!” Haru was too busy staring at how beautifully disheveled Rin's face looked to reply. It was as if he'd just finished a long race, cheeks flushed and breath ragged, hair falling unevenly and messily over his face, and his chiseled body covered in a thin layer of sweat. Oh, he wanted to lick it all off him. (He wondered briefly if it tasted like salted cherry blossoms.) Haru's tongue darted out to swipe instinctively over swollen lips just as Rin fumbled forwards, reaching out towards him to drag the blindfold over his eyes again.

“Hey—”

“I said don't look, dumbass!” Rin yelled again, and Haru could taste the embarrassment that thickly laced his words.

His lips pulled down in slight annoyance at the loss of his sight again, and as he settled back down against the mattress he could hear Rin still flailing about nervously all over him. He didn’t see what the problem was. It’s not like he had _asked_ him to use his mouth (in fact, he’d been openly opposed to it).

“Fine,” he finally conceded, relaxing again, and earning himself an angrily growled “ _THANK YOU_ ” from the redhead, who retreated once again to get back to work, growling and clicking his tongue a few times before actually starting to move. He eventually took the swimsuit between his teeth again, but only after placing a teasing nibble right above Haru's crotch.

“ _Rin!!_ ” Haru cried out as he practically jumped out of his skin, going perfectly stiff in alert in case the other dared bite him any lower than that. Rin simply huffed, releasing his hold on his jammers for a second to reply.

“That's for peeking,” he grumbled, returning to his task immediately afterwards.

Wow.

So mature.

He sure had grown up _a lot_ , Haru thought to himself.

“Idiot,” he muttered, and Rin tugged his swimsuit a bit more harshly than needed in reply. Haru kicked him lightly for it. “Watch it,” he said firmly again, and Rin huffed back, his breath tickling Haru’s exposed skin as his swimsuit was pulled further down.

Haru grew more and more restless with each passing second, concentrating with all his being on containing the urge to simply shove Rin away and pull his jammers off himself. The warmth of the waterbed underneath him became very welcome as soon as Haru found himself almost completely naked; the air around his previously heated skin felt cold and much too Rin-less. But Rin’s breath on his body was nothing short of addicting, and every now and then he would leave a few pecks here and there, making him squirm with delight and anticipation. It was all somewhat worth the horrible amount of time he had to wait, though, when his swimsuit was finally pulled below his knees, at which point Rin’s hands evidently took over to take it off swiftly in a couple of quick tugs. One embarrassingly long second passed, during which Haru drew his legs together, suddenly feeling very aware of his lack of clothing and of how sticky and dirty the area between them felt. A soft chuckle followed by a few short kisses placed on his shin brought the heat right back over him in a wave, as Rin’s fingers pushed gently between his knees to spread his limbs apart again slowly.

“You came really hard,” Rin teased with a laugh, and Haru brought his arms over his face with a groan, muttering a short ‘shut up’ through gritted teeth. (He was thankful that Rin made no comment on how, after weeks of nagging, Haru had obviously secretly given in to his constant suggestions of shaving. He still didn’t care for times, but if it would get Rin to shut up, he figured, it wouldn’t hurt.) Fingers wrapped under his left knee, and Haru felt his leg being spread even further before a small bite pinched his inner thigh, a hard, wet kiss placed immediately on top of it afterwards. Haru gasped, hips bucking up harshly in response when the touch sent a jolt of pleasure through his entire body.

( _…what was that, just now…?_ )

There was a relatively long pause before Rin’s other hand pressed against his hip and his thigh was kissed again, this time a bit closer towards his crotch, and Haru was thankful that he was being held so firmly, because he spasmed so roughly that he might have accidentally kneed Rin’s head otherwise. It felt as if electricity had suddenly been pumped straight into his veins, and Haru trembled anxiously as he waited for Rin’s lips to touch him again.

“Shit, Haru…,” was all Rin managed to breathe out before he pretty much attacked his skin, drawing a colorful variety of awfully quiet, raunchy moans from him, which all but intensified when Rin’s fingers crawled from his hip to the base of his arousal, brushing up and down his length as he hardened again. The way in which Haru moaned at that could have easily been mistaken for a loud meow, and Rin hissed through gritted teeth before giving him one slow stroke, which Haru rewarded with a long, shaky whimper and a shiver. There was nothing but silence where a snarky comment should have been, and all the warning Haru received of Rin’s closeness was how his heavy breaths heated up his skin right as he leaned in to give the side of his growing erection an experimental lick. “Gross,” he muttered playfully ( _there it was_ , and Haru had no trouble imagining him wearing the most gorgeous smirk on his face) when Haru protested and tried to push him away with his feet half-heartedly. His legs were only held tighter as Rin stole a few more short kisses, lifting Haru’s hips to start from the base up, and Haru shuddered, unable and unwilling to do anything to stop him, head swimming between consciousness and pure ecstasy. The darkness over his eyes kept making him wonder if he might perhaps be dreaming, but the way in which his body shook was too real and vivid and tangible for him to doubt for too long, and he just laid his head back, lips parted as he allowed himself to go with the flow. Rin made a mock gagging sound after giving the tip a quick lick, and Haru did knee him lightly on the ribs this time as soon as he managed to regain some of his composure.

“Is that how you repay me for not using my teeth?” He whined overly dramatically, and Haru jumped up straight again, propped up on his elbows in less than half a second.

“Don’t—”

“I won’t,” he heard Rin’s voice reassure him, not a single trace of mockery in his words, and Haru relaxed against the mattress again, wiping his forehead lazily with the back of his arm. His hair felt matted and sweaty, and the blindfold was honestly starting to bother him, his face much too hot for it to be covered with a strip of cloth like that. The bed shifted suddenly, and Haru felt his bangs being carefully combed away from his face, feeling the heat of Rin’s body close once again when he leaned towards him, a kiss placed softly on his temple.

“Gross,” Haru teased right back, pushing Rin away from his face with his arm. His chest felt hot and deliciously sweaty against his palm. “Wash your mouth before you kiss me again.”

“Jerk,” Rin laughed against his ear, and shoved his shoulder lightly before his weight disappeared from the bed. Haru blinked behind his blindfold, and when he heard light steps on the floor amidst the silence, he sat up again, fingers extending along the sheets.

“Rin?” The redhead didn’t answer, and Haru heard the sound of the door sliding open. A brief tinge of panic run through him, but before the door closed again a soft mutter came from the other side.

“Hang on a sec.”

And suddenly the room was completely empty.

Haru sat upright, still with surprise for a few seconds, feeling hot and slightly dizzy and very, very _hard_. Whatever could be so important that Rin had to leave at that moment, of all times? He hadn’t… He hadn’t _really_ gone off to wash his mouth, right? That idiot. Haru wiped some more sweat off his cheeks with the back of his hands, trying to keep his mind off how much he wanted to touch himself and get rid of the annoying hard-on between his legs. It just wouldn’t be the same without Rin there with him. In his distraction, for a brief second, he recalled pressing his palm against Rin’s chest, and taking a moment to listen and make sure he wasn’t currently heading back to the room, Haru brought his hand timidly to his mouth, giving it a small lick.

(…salty.)

The sound of Rin’s footsteps rushing back up the stairs (and probably tripping once or twice, from the random curses that Haru heard in between) made him take a deep breath in anticipation, anxiously waiting for the sound of the door opening and the return of Rin’s weight on the mattress. Indeed, the door was opened and closed in a flash, bare feet slapping against the floor rapidly— but Haru never felt the strong shake of the bed that he was expecting immediately afterwards. Instead, all he could hear was the sound of Rin’s agitated breathing, and suddenly became very aware that he was probably being stared at, completely naked and aroused as he was, and his cheeks turned a bright shade of red. A soft thud made him picture something being thrown on the bed, and finally the water shifted, signaling that Rin had begun climbing back onto the mattress, crawling towards him. He inhaled with surprise when fingers brushed his cheek, a hand cupping his face to pull him into a spearmint-flavored kiss.

The idiot actually did it.

“Had to borrow your toothbrush,” Rin breathed after breaking away, and Haru’s mouth turned down in a disgusted scowl. That was— He didn’t— _ugh_. The bed shook lightly with Rin’s laughter, and Haru was still frowning while Rin held him, kissing him all over his face (except for his mouth) to lay him back down against the mattress. Another chuckle, and Rin retreated further away from him; his motions on the bed felt awfully clumsy and nervous, for some reason. Haru fought the urge to protest with a sigh when Rin spread his legs apart again, biting his lip to keep from embarrassing himself any further when his fingers lingered a bit too long, pressed against his thighs.

“Okay,” Rin took a deep breath, and he sounded so anxious that Haru almost gave into the urge to ask him if he was alright, “stay still.”

Haru had no intention of moving (in fact, all he wanted was Rin moving against him again at the moment), so he did as he was told, smoothing out the sheets at his sides with his open palms for nothing better to do. A quiet, plastic sound filled the silence, and Haru could imagine a lid being popped, though for what reason, he couldn’t tell. He curled and uncurled his toes while he waited for Rin to make a move, wondering why he was making him stay still in such a compromising position without doing anything about it. His musings were interrupted by a strange squelching sound, and Haru almost took the blindfold off right then and there, because _what the hell_. (He couldn’t smell peppermint anymore, so at least it wasn’t toothpaste, but it was still weird.)

A hand landed squarely on his knee, holding it steady, and Haru could hear Rin breathing loudly again, almost as if psyching himself up to… do something. He heard him breathe the word ‘okay’ to himself a few more times, and then the hand on his knee began moving downwards, wrapping around his thigh with a powerful grip. Haru felt his leg being pressed forward slightly, back bending a little as a result, and he instinctively held onto the sheets, in case Rin was thinking of turning him over.

Of course, that didn’t happen.

Haru’s sensorial perception was suddenly assaulted by the cold, gooey feeling of _something_ being smeared around his entrance, eyes going wide behind the blindfold at the uncomfortable and slightly disgusting situation. His mouth snapped open to voice his complaints, but what left his lips instead was a sharp gasp when something thin, blunt and equally gooey was pressed against him, no, _into_ him—

It hurt like _HELL_.

“Rin, what— _s-stop!_ ” Haru’s body jerked in pain as the intruding object was instantly removed; his yell had been so loud that he could almost hear his voice echoing around the house. His heart was racing, and Haru had a hard time distinguishing whether it was the hand holding him or he himself that was shaking in the dark. The way in which his fingers refused to budge when he tried to untangle them from the sheets meant that it was probably him, which only made his heart thump louder when he came to the realization that nothing was happening.

Rin had gone deathly still.

“S-Sorry,” the other finally whispered, stammering slightly over the words that began rushing out as his hold on Haru’s leg softened, his voice sounding heavy with something akin to fear. Haru didn’t like that. “We don’t have to go all the way, I should’ve asked—”

“Wait, slow down,” With a quick swipe, Haru lifted the blindfold from his eyes, leaving it hanging loosely over his forehead as he propped himself on his elbows to stare at Rin, who was currently kneeling between his legs, eyes wide and quivering with anxiety as Haru stared him down. Haru _definitely_ didn’t like that. “What are you doing?” Rin blinked at him like he had just been spoken to in some sort of alien language.

“You… told me to stop.” He looked around himself and hurriedly put Haru’s leg down, using his now free hand to comb through his hair nervously. “It’s fine, I got carried away, I should’ve asked you first, I’m sorry—”

“No, I—” Haru made a herculean effort to organize his thoughts, trying to form a coherent sentence in his mind before Rin backed away for good. But the silence wasn’t in his favor, so in the end he simply opted for blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “What were you even doing!? That hurt!”

“Hah!?” Rin’s expression immediately morphed into an incredulous jaw drop at Haru’s words, staring at him firmly for a few seconds, almost as if waiting for him to say something else, and when silence followed, his surprise became even more marked. “What the—You _know_ what I was doing!! Don’t make me say it!!” His face had gone from shock to absolute embarrassment in an instant, and Haru could do nothing but stare at him in disbelief, frowning again a second later. Now that he could see, it was obvious that the thing Rin had tried to push into him had been his finger, coated in some… weird… _substance_ that he didn’t even want to dwell into that much. He saw no reason why Rin would want to do that when his erection was right in front of his face.

“It _hurt_ , so don’t do it again.” He scowled, making to lie back down against the bed, fingers reaching out to tear the blindfold from his head, but his motions were cut off by Rin’s voice, who yelled back at him in utter disbelief.

“Wha—How _else_ am I supposed to put it in!?” The sheer level of indignation in his voice threw Haru off, who blinked back at him in confusion. This was getting weirder by the minute.

“Put _what_ in?” He asked warily, and the look Rin gave him made it seem like his eyes would pop out of their sockets at any given time.

“My— You— _Shit_ , Haru, you really have no idea!!” It wasn’t a question, and, frankly, Haru felt a bit insulted by that. It’s not like Rin had much more experience than him in this… field. So why was he getting upset over something so weird? Haru didn’t feel like he wanted anything put in _anywhere_ at the moment, to be honest. He just wanted to get rid of the erection between his legs and get it done quickly.

“You don’t have to put anything in.” He said simply, closing his eyes with a sigh, and barely registering the frustrated growl Rin let out immediately afterwards.

“ _That’s not how sex works, Haru!_ ” He cried out, barely stopping himself from ripping his hair off at the ridiculousness of the argument. Haru just stared at him in return.

“…We’re not having sex,” he deadpanned, and Rin scoffed right back at him.

“Yeah, we aren’t! And we never will at this rate if you don’t let me put my fingers in your ass!!”

Rin looked ready to punch a wall in frustration, and Haru just grimaced at the thought of putting _anything_ in anyone’s ass. That was just disgusting and highly unhygienic. Why couldn’t Rin just stop being difficult and touch him in the right place instead? The whole situation was completely ridiculous.

“Look, just… do you want to or not?”

The sudden, angrily quiet question startled him briefly, and Haru watched Rin for a moment before he settled for a simple “What?” Rin sighed, shaking his head and scratching his neck awkwardly, cheeks slightly flushed but with an evident look of disappointment in his face. His voice was barely audible through pouting lips.

“…ve s…”

“What?”

“HAVE SEX, DAMMIT!”

Haru blinked.

“… oh.” There was a tense sort of exasperation riddled all over Rin’s figure, and Haru couldn’t tell if it was due to embarrassment, frustration, anger, anxiety, or all of those combined. Knowing Rin, and how difficult he could get, it was probably the latter. What surprised Haru, though, was how quickly the answer escaped him, before he had a chance to properly filter it in his head. “No.”

Rin’s eyes widened for a moment, shock travelling through his figure before his expression turned into a scowl, clicking his tongue as he looked away, shoulders slumping slightly.

“Yeah… okay. That’s… fine. I guess.” He snorted, keeping his eyes on the wall and away from Haru, at all costs. When he spoke again, his voice dripped with sarcasm and annoyance, which translated exactly how betrayed and heartbroken he felt at the sudden turn of events. “Guess now you’re going to tell me you only fuck free or something, huh?”

Well then.

Haru could honestly care less about the random jab. He knew better by now; Rin didn’t really mean it. And even if he did, Haru knew he was at fault as well for wording his thoughts so poorly. (Not like that was anything knew; Rin should also know better.) He sighed again, figuring out that inwardly debating who was to blame for the current argument was pointless, and that his energies would be put to much better use into trying to clear up the misunderstanding instead. Preferably, before Rin finished climbing off the bed, which he was right in the middle of at the moment.

(Considering how he was arguing with him while completely naked _and_ hard, it was a bit late for Haru to be worried about embarrassing himself, anyway.)

“’Sex’ sounds wrong,” he said quickly, earning himself an odd side-glance from Rin, “I thought you’d prefer ‘making love’ instead.”

Rin made a strangled sound, and promptly fell off the bed.

“You’re a fucking asshole!” Rin all but growled at him (after a long string of what were likely several profanities in English) and he climbed back onto the mattress roughly, almost as if trying to shake the argument off his limbs with each move. Haru simply raised his eyebrows at the word choice, and then turned his eyes to the sheets, smoothing them out again in what he realized was most likely a nervous gesture.

“You didn’t let me finish,” he said, and he immediately realized his hidden apology had been noticed, in the way in which Rin’s shoulders relaxed as soon as the words left him. When he looked up again, Rin was right in the middle of settling himself between his legs again, and his motions were once again sluggish with anxiety, though of a slightly different kind than before. “Do you even know how to do it?” He asked, and Rin’s gaze snapped towards him instantly, looking slightly offended at his question.

“I’m not an idiot like you,” he said, fishing out a tube from the sheets that Haru didn’t recognize, but that most likely contained that disturbing substance Rin had rubbed on him a few moments ago. His butt still felt weird. “The bed was _my_ idea, after all.” When Haru made a face at how he popped the cap and smeared the thing over his fingers again, Rin rolled his eyes, ignoring him completely as he threw the closed tube on the bed again. “I’ve looked it up, alright? Leave it to me.”

“…you sound like Rei.”

“Haru, for— Don’t bring anyone into this, okay!? It’s already embarrassing as it is!!” He simply shrugged at Rin’s outburst, his brow scrunching a bit when the redhead positioned himself in front of him like before, with a hand under his thigh, pushing his leg up slightly. “I’ve got this. Trust me.”

He wasn’t sure if it was just luck, or if Rin had actually noticed his unease and said it with purpose, but those two last words had an immediate effect on Haru, who sighed in defeat as he lied back against the mattress, eyes fixed on the ceiling for a second before focusing back on Rin. Their gazes met, and there was an evident note of concern in Rin’s eyes, making Haru’s fingers curl into the bed sheets all over again.

“It’s… It’s going to hurt at first, okay? Not gonna lie to you,” Rin blurted out suddenly, and Haru decided not to comment on how Rin wouldn’t know that for certain without trying it himself first, and the vast array of mental images that followed that thought made Haru break eye contact instantly. “Just… could you…?”

He glanced back at him when Rin never finished the question, and the way in which he was gesturing upwards with his head reminded Haru that he still had the blindfold placed over his forehead.

“I won’t look,” Haru said simply, but when he didn’t pull the blindfold down over his eyes Rin gave out a little groan, eyes darting all over the room nervously before setting back on Haru again.

“That’s not— ugh, it’s… it’s sexy, alright?” He looked away again, and the red on his cheeks was so bright and endearing that Haru felt all the heat that had left him over their little argument wash right back in, swallowing hard. “…please.”

Rin probably didn’t realize how unfairly he was playing right now. But he’d been always good at this, this little game that always went on between them, and Haru relented, because they were both extremely stubborn but someone had to behave like an adult eventually and, being older, it was usually Haru who did.

He sunk back against the pillow slowly, one hand going up to his face to pull the blindfold back into place, the other hand joining to fix it until it lay comfortably over his eyes again. Rin said nothing, but the way in which his fingers pressed just a little bit more strongly against Haru’s thigh when he finally settled on the bed was enough of a hint that Haru’s decision had been appreciated.

There was a long pause (during which Haru was certain that Rin was checking him out again) before the awkward slimy sensation returned, and Haru squirmed lightly under it, unconsciously trying to avoid the incoming pain. His reaction made Rin’s finger disappear in the darkness immediately, and his voice filled the air again.

“We really don’t have to—”

“No,” Haru cut in abruptly, despising the crippling anxiousness in Rin’s words, “do it.” He knew he didn’t outright say it, but there was a definite finality to his words that stated he had made his mind up already and he wouldn’t tolerate another expression of doubt at his resolve. Thankfully, Rin seemed to understand without further explanations, because he went completely quiet, and moments later his finger was teasing Haru again, who was fighting really hard not to move too much.

This time, Rin did let him know it was coming. So Haru took a deep breath and held it in, bracing himself as the intruding sensation returned once again, burning his insides in a bundle of pain and nerves. He briefly wondered if he was actually ready for this, but pushed the thought aside, reminding himself that Rin _did_ warn him it would hurt either way; it would make no difference whether it was now or later. And _now_ was when he needed it to happen. He still couldn’t help the light hissing and lip-biting, though, his hands gripping the sheets tightly and balling into fists as Rin’s finger explored the innermost reaches of his body. He… wasn’t sure how this was supposed to be helping, really. It just hurt a lot (though he had to admit that after a few moments, he could feel himself getting used to the sensation), but he still couldn’t see the point, and the way in which that gooey thing was being smeared all over didn’t feel pleasant in the least. There was one thing in Rin’s favor, though, and that was that Haru knew exactly how dedicated he could be about a given task, especially when it was also in his own interests, so no matter how uncomfortable or weird, he knew the other would do a thorough job about it.

“Hang in there, okay?” Rin offered as his only warning before what distinctly felt like a second finger pushed inside him, and Haru promptly gasped in pain at it, the feeling he had only recently gotten used to coming back full-force. He breathed roughly through his nose and gritted teeth, feeling his skin stretching painfully and somewhat fearing that it might rip at any minute. But there was another thing in Rin’s favor, and that was that he was being exceedingly gentle about it (both surprisingly and not, at the same time), regardless of how long it was taking and how hard he must also have been, if Haru could take himself as an example. Rin’s fingers moved back and forth, never being fully removed from inside him, and every now and then they would slide gently, pressing against walls of muscle, hot and slick with lube. It was becoming very difficult for Haru to keep from thrashing under his ministrations, his touch still slightly uncomfortable, but firm and careful all the same. He realized out of nowhere that he was starting to get used to it again, and when it didn’t hurt it wasn’t… necessarily that bad, though he still didn’t get it.

It wasn’t until Rin’s fingers curved slightly on their way out that Haru found out just how insanely _good_ it could get.

The pleasure that suddenly shot through him was so intense that Rin stopped on his tracks as well, Haru’s unexpectedly drawn-out moan shocking him into stillness. Or at least that’s what Haru gathered when he managed to blink his senses into working order again, only to find out that Rin’s fingers had stopped moving (and that the darkness beneath the blindfold had seemed a tad bit brighter for a moment there). A few hurried breaths that weren’t his, and Rin went back to his task, not so subtly attempting to reenact the recent development with his movements.

(He wouldn’t hear Haru complain about it.)

It didn’t take him long to hit the right spot a second time, and Haru’s back arched with another uncharacteristically loud cry, arms flying to cover his face behind them. His recovery time was cut short when Rin immediately pushed his fingers against that exact same spot again, and Haru was so angry that Rin wasn’t close enough to be held and scratched and kissed, because his brain was a mess of absolute desire at the moment, his libido climbing off the charts and his erection twitching painfully with boiling hot, condensed lust. The teasing continued a few more times, and Haru was beginning to run out of ways to contain himself, all manner of sounds leaving him as the now not-so-strange feeling of heat coiling in the pit of his stomach reappeared, leaving him breathless and yearning for more. But all of a sudden that particular heat spot in his body was left alone, and Rin’s name might have slipped his lips a few times while those fingers kept moving inside him, returning to their previous stretching motions. Haru was doing his best to catch his breath but it seemed almost impossible. He was pretty sure that just one more touch would send him right over the edge.

“… just a little bit more.”

Rin’s voiced filled the buzzing in Haru’s head out of nowhere, and his whisper was so low and charged with desire that Haru knew, he just _knew_ that Rin would have rather dropped whatever it was he was trying to do and get right back to touching Haru again, grinding against each other, kissing him hard… but he also knew how mind-numbingly terrified Rin was of hurting him again (or even simply causing him discomfort, really), and while it sort of annoyed him when Rin was so careful around him (it’s not like he was made of glass, after all), in this particular occasion he could somewhat… understand it. It wasn’t like anything they’d done before, so he understood—

That didn’t mean that a large part of him wasn’t eager for him to actually get on with the program.

The pain suddenly returned with Rin’s fingers, and Haru realized there was yet another one being pushed inside of him now, and perhaps it was the strange sort of adrenaline rush or the repeated motions, or his brain trying to numb the sensation out by musing on all sorts of random things, but Haru suddenly realized that, hey, there were three fingers now where there had only been room for just one not so long ago, and perhaps that was the whole point. Their earlier argument was suddenly replayed in his head, and (Haru could be a bit dense sometimes, but he wasn’t stupid) the pieces began falling into place.

(…oh. So _that’s_ how.)

“Is this…,” he began, once the pain had subsided enough for his voice not to sound too strained, his breathing somewhat steadier, “is this really going to work…?” He asked, and on the other end of the bed Rin scoffed loudly and with a hint of relief at how they finally, _finally_ seemed to be on the same page. His words rushed out a lot faster than usual, never letting his hand movements come to a stop.

“We didn’t come this far for it _not_ to work,” he nearly shouted, his nerves and excitement and evident arousal translating into a hurried, loud speech pattern. “I swear I’ll make it work even if I have to sit here all night with my hand up your ass.” _Smooth_ , Haru thought dryly.

Perhaps it was eagerness at how Haru now seemed to know what he wanted, or perhaps it was how there was no more squirming and Haru was mostly relaxed, lying still and expectantly waiting for him to finish his preparations, because Rin finally removed his fingers from him with a grunt, and Haru could feel the water moving underneath them again, soothingly, almost, as Rin shifted, the sound of clothing being smacked to the ground catching Haru’s attention.

“You’re only _just_ getting naked?” He asked incredulously, and Rin chose to slap his right leg lightly instead of giving him a proper reply, the sound of a packet being ripped open and the plastic cap being popped echoing across the room. Haru didn’t really care much for sex ed (and he was pretty sure _this_ wasn’t taught at school, anyway), but he was pretty sure he knew what those sounds meant, and he wished he could actually see what was happening, because no matter how hard he tried not to think about it, the image of Rin ripping a condom packet open with his teeth wouldn’t leave his mind.

“I had to focus, okay?” The squelching sound of the lube being pushed out of the tube drowned out Rin’s excuse, and Haru found himself swallowing hard in anticipation when a few moments later the mattress tipped between his legs, once again becoming painfully aware of the closeness of Rin’s now completely naked body against his. Rin must have noticed, because what came out of his mouth next broke Haru’s concentration completely. “Ready, Nanase?” The redhead suddenly teased after a soft, plastic snap (he did _not_ just do that, that embarrassing little—), a hint of mischievousness coating his words, and Haru found the annoying nervousness he had been feeling so far had been instantly sucked out of him, like a slap to the face.

Rin did weird things to his head and his heart with such ease all the time, that Haru wasn’t surprised he didn’t question it anymore.

“Just hurry up, RinRin.” A squawked laugh, and all of a sudden Rin was on top of him, kissing his stomach and nibbling him playfully and trying to tickle him into submission. Haru burst into a bout of soft laughter almost instantly, hands kneading into Rin’s hair, so high-strung that no amount of self-restraint would have helped his cause. Rin smiled against his skin as he continued to tease him, joining Haru shortly after with a light shake of his own, and their combined chuckles soon mixed with a few quiet moans when Rin’s hands moved down low to tease Haru’s erection a little. Those sounds seem to remind them both what they were supposed to be doing, and Rin’s lips travelled upwards, travelling all over Haru’s body towards his jaw. He kissed all the way up, giving the shell of his ear a playful lick before whispering “Swim with me, Nanase” hotly right into it, and Haru squirmed lightly, another little laugh escaping him at the tickling sensation.

The moment was put on hold— not broken, not abandoned, but just filed away for later in a silent agreement sealed with a soft, chaste kiss, and before long Rin had straightened again, away from Haru’s touch, but also closer in a rather roundabout way. There was no sound between them but the very last remnants of Haru’s laugh (a few sharp, content breaths through his nose) when Rin took hold of his legs again, the water flowing comfortably beneath them as he positioned himself between them. Haru felt a hand pressing onto the mattress right at his side, just as Rin silently guided his left leg around him, wordlessly asking him to hook it over his waist. He breathed in deep, reveling on how warm Rin’s bare skin felt, on how much his own burned as Rin’s fingers travelled back down his leg in a sensual caress, motioning for him to lift his hips up a bit more. Haru obliged with a small grunt, and in a moment Rin’s touch had left him, making his breath and his heart rate speed up a little as he waited.

Blood rushed up to his face and ears, stomach flipping over with excitement when a hard, slick heat pressed against his previously stretched entrance.

While Rin had obviously coated his arousal with more than enough lube (definitely more than enough, Haru was sure), the pain that coursed through his body as he started entering him was rather intense, and Haru immediately reached out to grab the arm at his side, holding onto Rin’s wrist with an iron grip as if that would help diffuse the burn. Rin simply let out a groan that morphed into a sigh as he pushed further in, Haru’s legs trembling slightly as the heat of their bodies slowly melded into one and the same. It wasn’t long until the tip got past the ring of muscle, and the two of them breathed in at the same time, Rin most likely to steel himself to keep going and Haru to try and keep his body under control. He let out a quiet whimper when Rin continued moving closer, slowly, but at a constant pace, and the way in which his breath started coming out more and more jagged the deeper he went in was overloading Haru’s senses. It was _him_ making Rin sound that good, and Haru wished he would hurry up, because even though it hurt a little he still wanted to feel more of him, he wanted to hear more and feel Rin closer, deeper, hotter against him and inside him and the wait was doing strange things to his head. Some things blurred and other things came into extreme focus, and with his eyes covered every sensation doubled, tripled in his mind.

Hot breath against him.

Hands holding him tighter than ever.

Skin burning, burning everywhere.

Red, red, red.

_Rin_.

Haru didn’t realize he was practically clawing into Rin’s wrist until the redhead hissed into his ear, their bodies close again as Rin pushed the very last stretch of the way in with a grunt, making Haru shake with a sharp gasp. Even though they stilled for a moment, Haru’s breath never slowed down, and having Rin panting on his neck and spreading kisses all over it wasn’t helping his situation. He felt relaxed and tense at the same time, his heart thumping pleasantly in his chest alongside Rin’s…

He felt so… full. In so many ways.

His arms wrapped shakily around Rin’s back, the sweat feeling warm against his palms. Rin was so warm. And beautiful. Haru couldn’t see a thing but he didn’t need to; he’d always known Rin was beautiful, everywhere, inside and outside, in his head filled with colorful dreams and his romantic, much-too easily breakable heart. Rin was such a huge influence on him, and Haru knew it was the opposite for Rin, as well. It was annoying, at times, to know he unwillingly had so much power over someone else, to know he could reduce him to a crying mess with just a few misplaced words… it was scary. He’d been so against letting someone else in for so long, that now, when it really mattered, he was never sure if he was doing the right thing, if he was making a mistake, if he really was what Rin needed or not. But just lying there with him, feeling his warmth and his heartbeat and all the ways in which their feelings aligned with each other, let Haru know that, no matter how tough, no matter how many mistakes they made or how many times they argued or even if they would never see eye to eye about some things, he knew this was _right_. This was _good_.

They could be so much _better_.

_Together_.

_He loved Rin so much_.

Rin’s voice broke through his thoughts a few times, asking him if he was okay (Haru nodded), asking him if it hurt (Haru shook his head), asking him if he should move.

(… Haru nodded.)

Feeling Rin’s hips pull away inch by inch from him was almost painful in what it meant, inwardly, for one moment, but when they rolled back into him Haru could swear he could see actual constellations being painted in little blots of light against the dark of the blindfold. Rin must have seen them too, because the moan he gave out was filled with amazement, his loud excitement drowning out Haru’s quiet expressions of pleasure. Rin moved back a second time, very slowly, almost as if asking for permission, and again he pushed back in, sending tangible shocks through Haru’s body, who squirmed in delight underneath him, nails digging into Rin’s muscled back as his own arched against the bed. His actions were rewarded with another thrust, much quicker than the previous ones, and soon enough Rin had set a slow, conscious pace for them, the warm water sloshing underneath them with each move, and Haru shivered each time Rin dug deep into him in a way that was almost as if he were trying to draw his every emotion out through his mouth and his limbs. A pleasant itch spread through his entire body, like a muted sensation of pins and needles pinching every nerve end, the pitch of his voice climbing as he kept moaning softly in response to Rin’s movements. The redhead was in a similar stage, hissing and groaning in bliss as one of his hands circled Haru’s shoulder, fingers travelling along his bicep to pull his arm down and lace their fingers together, hands clenched tightly in one another’s on the mattress. Rin’s other arm soon found its place on the pillow, curled right over Haru’s head (from what he could gather from the sudden pressure behind him), and his panting breath moistened his neck, red locks splayed over him and red cheeks hot on his skin as Rin burrowed his face against him. It was just a moment of shifting around and then they stayed like that, the grip of their hands growing painfully stronger and their hips crashing into each other’s, the pace hastening gradually as Rin sought more friction and Haru made a few attempts at meeting his thrusts with his own.

It was exhilarating. The thrill was driving him crazy. Holding and touching Rin and being held by him was not enough; he’d never felt this sort of need before. It wasn’t strange that he’d want more. Haru felt it in the way that heat gathered furiously between his legs as Rin continued to move inside him, filling him with desire. It was almost addicting, how their bodies slid against each other’s with such ease, how his muscles tightened around Rin, almost as if trying to keep him there, and how all the tension became so easily undone when Rin pushed in deep, leaving Haru nearly unsatisfied in how he wanted him to go deeper each time, closer, tighter, faster. He’d never needed anything in the way he needed Rin at that very moment. It felt nothing short of amazing, in a shocking kind of way. He wanted Rin to touch him, everywhere. He groaned loudly, nails grazing Rin’s back as he lifted his hips a bit higher, urging him to move faster with a few motions of his own. Rin kissed him fiercely in return, sucking and biting all the way up from his neck to his face, where their lips crashed together in a furious exchange. Haru whined, their grip on each other’s hands so strong by now that he felt his bones might break, and he gasped into the kiss when Rin’s pace hastened again, complying with his unspoken request and ramming hard into him.

He’d expected Rin to say something. He’d really expected Rin to smirk and chuckle and make a comment about the loud cry that he gave out when they happened to move in just the right angle, hitting that particular spot that made Haru go crazy and lose all restraints in favor of asking for more. (Not that he did ask outright, though.) But Rin was oddly silent in that regard, simply sighing and moaning loudly in two languages instead, moving in and out of Haru in a lust-driven haze. Haru mewled in return, his voice pitching up drastically whenever Rin’s thrusts hit gold, his entire body shuddering in pleasure as he felt himself nearer and nearer to the breaking point. Squishing his eyes closed behind the blindfold, forgetting himself and how his throat hurt and how out of breath he was; he focused on nothing but reveling in the sensation, the sound of water moving underneath him making his enjoyment spike to dangerous levels. He might break into pieces. He didn’t care. In his head there were nothing but dizzy thoughts of Rin, swaying and spiraling into an incoherent mush of red as he was pushed further towards the edge, a pair of swollen lips drinking in his every moan and cry. Suddenly he felt it, like standing on a ledge and feeling vertigo wash over him, like that one instant before his body tilted forward to leap into the water, and he couldn’t wait to make the jump. It took one well-aimed thrust, and his entire body shook violently with release, fingers clawing skin when he spilled all over his and Rin’s chests, an extended, throaty moan ripped from him with each subsequent thrust, his consciousness blanking out completely for a moment. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt Rin moving with a sudden spurt of vigor, speed picking up in what Haru assumed was his own leap and, indeed, just as Haru felt the fog in his head start to clear, a loud groan reached his ears, followed by a few quiet moans through tightly shut lips as Rin rode out his orgasm inside him. He felt the movement continue lazily, his muscles spasming lightly every now and then, until it finally stopped, and Rin slid out of him slowly, limp, leaving him feeling suddenly empty and dirty inside. He really hated that gooey thing.

Haru huffed loudly when Rin collapsed on him for the second time of the night.

There was nothing but silence between them for a while, silence and deep, heavy breathing, until Haru broke it with a curt “… you’re heavy.” Rin immediately pushed himself off him with a groan, instead dropping his body beside him and… snuggling. “Rin,” Haru complained, breathing out with effort as he tried to shove Rin a bit further away. He felt tired and sweaty and sticky; now was not the time for this kind of thing. He supposed Rin felt differently, though, but that was a common thing between them. Haru was used to them being on opposite sides of the spectrum. Everything that had just happened, the connection, the intermingling of their feelings… that, that was new. Being on the exact same wavelength as Rin sent a weird chill through him, all the way to the tips of his fingers. It was like racing—no, better than that. Because this time they weren’t on opposite teams, not on the same team, even. They were one.

The soft lull of the warm water underneath him pulled his tired body unwillingly closer towards sleep, supplying him with thoughts of him and Rin swimming leisurely in the water together, all smiles and hands linked together, and Rin floating right in front of him, surrounded by nothing but an infinite expanse of blue, his grin brimming brightly with happiness and love.

( _Romantic, right?_ )

The memory jolted him awake again, to the sensation of a very solid, very warm and sweaty Rin clinging to him.

“I need a bath.” Haru’s sudden complaint caused Rin to stir, and he automatically grumbled into his side, nuzzling against him and draping his arms over him stubbornly in a ‘just five more minutes’ stance. Haru really didn’t have the time for this kind of thing. Even if Rin was pleasantly warm, there was no way he was going to let him doze off just like that on his bed (his _new_ bed) when they were both naked and dirty. In any other situation Haru would have just left by himself, but this whole thing had all been Rin’s fault, and he wasn’t going to let him sleep through the cleanup duties. Besides, there was also the little issue of Haru feeling like he’d never be able to lift a single limb again... and a little something else. “… I can’t see anything,” he added, hoping that the redhead would understand his current predicament, that didn’t only involve feeling completely sore and spent. That seemed to work, because Rin groaned again, his touch disappearing and the water shifting beneath them as he moved, and all of a sudden Haru could feel an arm slipping under his back, lifting him up in time with another arm hooked under his knees.

… Not this again.

He was about to protest before he realized how much his entire body hurt when Rin lifted him up in his arms, and Haru couldn’t help wince a little as he fumbled to wrap his arms around Rin’s neck. He still didn’t like it, but it was much more convenient this way. Embarrassing, and he couldn’t see yet, but convenient, at least. (He was quite certain that, if he dared to take the blindfold off right then and there, Rin would drop him at once.)

Rin’s steps were firm, if anything, and though his breath sounded labored as he climbed down the stairs, Haru never once imagined Rin’s legs giving way under his added weight. He simply focused on not moving too much, doing what he could to make himself as light as possible as Rin’s bare steps echoed throughout the empty house. He wasn’t even sure what time of day it was anymore. Behind the blindfold, it could be night forever. Haru would hardly mind that at the moment. It wasn’t until Rin set him down in the laundry room that the blindfold was finally slipped off his head, and Haru spent a few seconds blinking the phosphorescent light of the room away from his eyes. He stayed there, standing completely still for a few moments trying to regain his sight while Rin drew a bath, and soon enough the redhead reappeared to help him into the tub (not that he needed it. He could walk. But he supposed Rin was convinced otherwise, and would not be swayed easily), and in the light Haru could _finally_ see him clearly.

Rin looked absolutely _stunning_. His hair was sticking out everywhere and his eyes looked slightly droopy and glazed over. There was a gorgeous shade of pink on his cheeks (which intensified when he noticed Haru’s gaze on him), and his body had never looked so utterly desirable; no matter how many times he had strutted half-naked in a swimsuit in front of his eyes already, Haru felt as if he had not been looking correctly at it until this very day. He couldn’t possibly understand why Rin had been embarrassed about being seen like that. Even while drained and disheveled and dirty (he was going to have to make sure Rin had disposed of the used condom somewhere appropriate later; with the mess his room had surely become over the course of things, he didn’t want to end up accidentally stepping on it), he looked simply beautiful, and Haru would have lunged right at him had he had any strength remaining at the moment.

Instead of speaking his thoughts aloud, or even allowing them to breach his impassive stance, Haru simply gave him a once over and spoke firmly. “You’re doing the laundry.” Rin’s expression, which had morphed from smugness to embarrassment in record time as Haru looked at him, contorted immediately into a disgusted scowl.

“What!?”

“It was your idea, wasn’t it,” Haru deadpanned, ignoring Rin completely when he groaned and moved towards him to help him walk (which Haru _still_ hadn’t asked him to do), albeit a bit more reluctantly now, and with the scowl stuck on his face. But it was clear that the stern look in Haru’s eyes had dissuaded him from any form of protest almost immediately, and they both moved slowly into the bathroom proper.

“Ugh, fine. Whatever.” Rin stood awkwardly (and awkwardly self-conscious of his own nakedness, now) in the middle of the room, looking around nervously after Haru forced him to make a stop to clean himself up before climbing into the bath. He was in the middle of rinsing his hair when Rin finally spoke up again, eyes trained on a drop of water sliding down Haru’s calf. “But you’re making me dinner in return.”

Haru said nothing, mentally making a note to prepare a grand mackerel dish just to spite him, and it wasn’t until he was dropped into the bathtub (gently, even though Rin made it look otherwise with his fake expression of annoyance), until Rin had finished tidying himself up a bit as well, later, that the redhead finally broke the silence they had fallen into, mumbling a little over a whisper, sitting away from him and making no move to join him.

“This… this changes nothing between us,” Rin started, but never really finished, although Haru could still hear the unspoken ‘right?’ in the air, as if waiting for his inevitable answer. Usually, he would have responded without batting his eyelashes even once, but this time, Haru really wasn’t sure what to say.

Did it? Did it change anything?

Perhaps the reason why he couldn’t come up with an answer was that it wasn’t the right question. This new development didn’t necessarily _have_ to change anything, Haru wanted to say, but… had it? Had anything changed?

If he had to be honest, nothing really _had_ changed. Rin was still the same, and so was he. But some things could no longer go unseen, and the realization that Haru had come to while in the midst of it all felt so simple and _natural_ to him that it didn’t really feel like anything fundamental within him had been shifted by it.

Perhaps the right question was if he should tell him or not.

“No,” Haru said quietly a few moments later, relaxing in the water, “it doesn’t.”

Rin nodded once, and said nothing more.

A no _should_ have been the preferred answer, and that’s probably why Haru had settled for that. But deep down he knew exactly what Rin had truly _meant_ with his aborted question. He knew what Rin had meant to ask (what he was too afraid to ask, and had probably been trying to for a few years now), and Haru could almost taste the disappointment in his silence.

…should he tell him, then?

He should probably tell him. He should hurry and tell him before the misunderstandings between them ended up becoming unbearable, like they usually did.

(It was just a little vexing, though, that Rin couldn’t tell on his own.)

“Aren’t you going to get in?” He asked, and Rin grimaced slightly.

“I’m good,” was all he muttered in a barely audible voice, but Haru wasn’t going to relent that easily.

Rin was good at pretending. He’d sulk for a bit and then act like nothing was wrong, like nothing ever affected him, but sooner or later the rift between them would become tangible again. Painful, like before.

He should tell him.

“Rin,” Haru admonished, and the tone was enough to make the other glance back at him with a defeated expression on his face (though Haru could see that ever-present hint of… hope hidden in his eyes. He really _was_ an idiot.) before standing and unceremoniously letting himself into the bath with a groan.

Opposite of him.

(One of these days, Haru would figure out if Rin did everything on purpose, or if him getting on his nerves was something that was just meant to _happen_ between them.)

“Rin,” Haru called out again, almost as if scolding him. “Come.” As expected, Rin simply clicked his tongue and looked away with a frown.

“ _I’m good_ ,” he repeated, this time through gritted teeth. Why was he being so stubborn? Haru couldn’t tell. Perhaps he was just angry that Haru wasn’t showing any sort of reaction to what had happened between them (though Haru considered that just going through with it was enough of a reaction already), but he couldn’t really do anything unless Rin himself cooperated a bit. So he simply stared him down for seconds, might have been minutes, even, until Rin finally groaned in displeasure again and moved over to where Haru was sitting, and the older boy immediately wrapped his arms around him, pulling him closer until his back connected with his chest. Rin groaned again. “Hey,” he grumbled, trying to get out of Haru’s hold with a half-hearted squirm, so red in the face that his hairline seemed to have blurred permanently, “back off! That’s… really gay.” _That’s almost cute_ , Haru retorted in his head. He wasn’t fooling anyone with that act.

“You’re one to talk,” he muttered softly instead, nuzzling against Rin’s back if only to embarrass him further, and accidentally noticed the deep red scratches on his skin. Should he tell him? Perhaps he should tell him. (Then again, it might be fun to see all eyes on Rin as he walked towards the pool during a joint practice, completely oblivious to the crisscross patterns on his back.) Rin groaned yet again, pulling him from his thoughts, and Haru realized only too late that a smile had found its way to his face.

“What,” Rin stated, not asked, and when Haru couldn’t help but keep smiling against his back, he insisted. “What is it.”

“Nothing,” he replied instantly, and Rin tried to turn around and face him, making the water ripple around them as he made some very awkward maneuvers in the small tub. It only made things worse when Haru chuckled softly at it.

“It’s not _nothing_ , Haru,” Rin growled at him in utter embarrassment; it didn’t take a genius to guess that the whole thing had probably something to do with him. “It’s definitely not nothing when you’re smiling and… ugh, just tell me!”

_So cute_.

“No,” Haru pulled him into their previous position again, leaning against him, and again he noticed the marks, his thoughts invariably drifting back to the things he should be saying aloud but wasn’t. Haru wanted to tell him. He really wanted to. But he knew Rin well, and Rin would do nothing short of killing him if he dared to say something as important as _that_ in the middle of an awkward bath after sex. ( _Not sex_ , he reminded himself.)

He had to tell him, but he wouldn’t. Not about those marks, and not about the rest. Not there. It was still something that needed to be said, however, but he didn’t have to say it outright. He just had to make sure it would be understood.

When Rin made to turn to face him again, Haru let him, and stared at him straight in the eye firmly, making Rin frown slightly in a mix of annoyance and nerves. His eyes were repeating the question for him, glancing back and forth between Haru’s blue ones and his lips. As for Haru, he simply breathed in and spoke the words out honestly; he was well-aware that the blunt approach had always been his forte.

“You’d kill me if I said it here.”

That should do it. Indeed, it didn’t take long for Rin’s face to turn from a state of slight confusion into an even more awfully mess of red than before, and Haru watched as he desperately tried to say something, opening his mouth a few times and failing to produce sound on each attempt, until he finally turned away and leaned roughly against Haru, slamming his back gracelessly into his chest. Haru huffed in complaint, but remained silent as he put his arms around him again.

“Y-You know,” Rin began cautiously, talking after a long while of remaining silent and playing with the water mindlessly, scooping in up with cupped hands only to let it slip through his fingers again and again, “I’ve… been thinking—”

“Wow,” Haru interjected, and Rin elbowed his leg. Hard.

“ _I’ve been thinking_ ,” he repeated angrily, and thankfully this time Haru did not make any comments, “that maybe we should… go back again sometime.” Haru wasn’t sure what he was talking about or where he was going with it, but he didn’t really need to ask; Rin was obviously going to explain it himself once he finished gathering his courage. He always _was_ overly chatty about his plans. It was a bit endearing, when it wasn’t annoying. “You know… back there.” He made another pause, and when Haru gave no hint that he had understood, Rin growled and continued, slightly flustered. “… to see it. That tree.”

Ah. _That_ tree.

Haru fought back a snort. He really should’ve seen it coming.

“It should be blooming soon,” he commented quietly, placing his chin on Rin’s shoulder, which made the other turn his face away from him again. “You did always want to see that.”

“Yeah,” Rin croaked in return, evidently nervous, and said nothing else.

“… I’ll say it there, then.” The promise was unnecessary, but the way in which Rin’s shoulders hunched and the tips of his ears turned crimson at his words was only further confirmation that the point had gotten across. Haru was relieved for it.

“W-Who said _you’d_ be saying anything!?” Rin blurted out immediately, but the fight in him was overshadowed by a whole lot of warmth, a bit of hope, and a hint of self-conscious chagrin. “I’ll do the talking!”

“I want to say it too,” Haru fought back in his ever-steady, unrelenting voice, and with that short phrase he earned himself a Rin that was practically flailing in his arms, stammering over his words as he tried to pretend, in vain, that there was nothing special about that particular conversation and that it didn’t affect him at all.

“ _T—Too!?_ Hah! Don’t be ridiculous!!” He gave out a sharp chuckle, and he gradually managed to succeed in composing himself behind a quick mask of smugness. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”

“I do.”

At first, Haru didn’t realize why his perfectly bland reply had caused Rin to muffle what sounded eerily close to a _squeak_ behind his hands, hiding his entire face from view. He thought it was only because he had seen right through him (again). A few seconds of consideration later, he realized that _ah_ , perhaps his word choice had been a bit too much for a hopeless romantic like Rin, and Haru couldn’t help wonder about what kind of thoughts might be crossing his mind at the moment. After conjuring up a few overly flowery and cheesy scenarios in his head, he figured he’d rather not know.

“Shut up and enjoy your bath!”

Haru did just that. Leaning against a very red and very embarrassed Rin, he closed his eyes and let his tired body soak in the warm water, the pleasant ache reminding him of all the places where Rin had touched him, and he held the redhead just a little bit closer at the thought. This was enough for now. Rin had a difficult pace to follow, but Haru didn’t mind waiting—he’d waited for a long time already, so what could a few more days, at most, be to him?

“Rin. Thanks,” he muttered, and when Rin seemed to want to try to curl into himself until he managed to disappear, Haru sighed and tightened his hold on him, adding a short “for the present” to his words. The clarification made Rin scoff at him, but he nevertheless seemed to have relaxed a little with the change of topic.

“Don’t try swimming in it,” he offered unnecessarily, and Haru smiled.

“Not without you.”

Sputtering and cursing in a colorful range of bilingual vocabulary, Rin did a pretty accurate impersonation of a red tornado, blushing from head to toe and leaving a trail of water behind him as he practically ran out of the bathroom.

And, for the first time in forever, Haru felt like willingly doing the same.

**Author's Note:**

> I DON'T EVEN KNOW, YOU GUYS. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY??


End file.
